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Childhood Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against St. Matthew's Episcopal Day
School After Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Takes Thousands of Lewd Pictures
and Videos of Young Girls

After a St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School student complained to her parents
about pre-kindergarten teacher Anthony Satriano, and after the resulting
law enforcement investigation, Satriano was arrested, charged, and pled
no contest to five felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct, attempted
lewd and lascivious conduct and using a child for sexual purposes. On
February 23, 2018, pre-kindergarten teacher Satriano was sentenced to
6 years in prison.

On March 14, 2018, a former St. Matthew's student filed suit against St.
Matthew's Episcopal Day School, The Episcopal Church of St. Matthew, Episcopal
Diocese of Northern California, Head of School Julie Galles and Anthony Satriano
(San Mateo County Case # 18CIV01309).

The childhood sexual abuse lawsuit alleges that prestigious private school
St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School and Head of School Julie Galles failed
to protect St. Matthew's School students. The lawsuit further alleges
that St Matthew's School and its employees, including Head of School Galles,
ignored Satriano's inappropriate physical contact with students and grooming
conduct, failed to have child protection policies and procedures in place,
and hired staff that did not meet legally-mandated minimum qualifications.
The lawsuit alleges that St. Matthew's School and Head of School Galles
received many complaints but elected to ignore them.

The lawsuit alleges that St. Matthew's School's failure to supervise pre-k
teacher Satriano allowed him to be alone with students whenever he desired,
and he sexually abused students, including Plaintiff, on school property
and during official school activities (regular class time, after-school
enrichment programs, and school break camps run by Satriano). The lawsuit
alleges that St. Matthew's School ignored known dangers and failed to
keep children safe from childhood sexual abuse.

"Exposing the truth about childhood sexual abuse and holding schools
and churches accountable is the only way to force institutions to make
changes to better protect children. Childhood sexual abuse causes traumatic
harm that children often suffer for the rest of their lives," said
psychologist and attorney Joseph George, Ph.D. of the Law Offices of Joseph
C. George, Ph.D.

The Law Offices of Joseph C. George, Ph.D., has represented hundreds of
survivors of childhood sexual abuse in cases against schools, religious
institutions and youth service organizations. Dr. George is a licensed
psychologist as well as a licensed attorney. The firm has offices in Sacramento,
Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California.

Former St. Francis student talks about her grooming by softball coach for
sexual relationship

What: At a preliminary hearing, a former private school teacher and coach,
Anthony Satriano, will be charged with 12 felony counts of using a minor
for sexual purposes (Penal Code section 311.4), two counts of lewd and
lascivious acts upon a child (Penal Code section 288(a)), one count of
attempted lewd and lascivious acts upon a child (Penal Code section 288(a))
and one count of possession of child pornography (Penal Code section 311.11
(a)). He also faces potential charges in other jurisdictions relating
to child pornography involving additional victims.

Parents of the victims- age four to eight-say that officials at the prestigious
St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School in San Mateo minimized the extent of
the abuse and number of victims, trivialized the sexual fetish behaviors
that Satriano acted out on their children, withheld information that parents
need to determine if their children are victims and failed to provide
basic victim support to the children. School officials also ignored warnings
that Satriano was a risk to children, disregarded textbook signs of sexual
predation, and ignored warnings that school security was grossly inadequate.

Victims' advocates will be available for comment after the hearing.

Where/When:

Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.

San Mateo County Court, 400 County Center, Redwood City

Why: Anthony Satriano, a former head pre-kindergarten teacher, who also taught
after-school classes, coached multiple sports and ran holiday and summer
camps at San Mateo's St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School, was arrested
on April 21 for taking and possessing photos of young students in lewd poses.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/251240709-story. Further investigation by San Mateo law enforcement resulted in charges
of lewd and lascivious acts up a child, using a minor for sexual purposes,
and child pornography.

Parents of some victims, through their lawyer, say that the school minimized
abuse and ignored obvious warning signs of predatory grooming behavior.

"The school leadership trivialized this sexual fetish-based criminal
behavior and child pornography, including the fetish-based physical touching,
and minimized the harm done to these very small, wounded children,"
said Dr. Joseph C. George, an attorney and psychologist who represents
multiple families involved.

George said that the parents also feel betrayed by school administrators
and are curious why they ignored numerous warnings about security, warnings
about Satriano's conduct toward children and Satriano's classic "red
flag" predatory grooming behavior, which had been ongoing for more
than a year.

"There were numerous complaints from many parents about the security
and supervision of small children, including in classes led by Satriano,
and clear red flags signaling grooming and abuse" he said. "Repeated
written concerns about security were provided to Julie Galles, Head of
School, starting in February 2016, yet parents were not listened to and
no action was taken. Adequate supervision could have prevented these crimes,
and standard monitoring for warning signs of grooming and sexual abuse
could have prevented or stopped these crimes before Satriano abused and
victimized so many children."

"Sexual abuse in schools is unfortunately common and procedures for
its prevention are well-established. Schools that have standard precautions
in place prevent abuse like that which occurred in this case. St. Matthew's
failed to implement those precautions."

George also noted that more victims are likely to emerge after the facts
of the case come to light. "The bizarre fetish behaviors in this
case are so unusual that many parents have not asked their children the
necessary questions, and parents of children who did not have a class
with Satriano may not recognize the need to talk to their children. As
parents learn the details, our fear is that more are likely to discover
that their children were targets or victims."

Five St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School children under age eight are listed
in the felony complaint as victims. At least ten girls and boys from St.
Matthew's Episcopal Day School were interviewed by law enforcement with
likely misdemeanor charges not pursued by the San Mateo District Attorney's
office. Additional victims of child pornography in Satriano's possession
appear not to be students at St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School, and the
San Mateo District Attorney does not have jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes.

Media accounts to date have failed to disclose that the charges include
touching of the children.

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